Kissing snaps, 'duck face' pouts and sandy toes: The selfies we love to snap on holiday (but just 6% dare take a Kim-style 'belfie')

It is the social media phenomenon that has taken the world by storm, and it seems the selfie we most love to snap is us kissing our partners on holiday.

With half of holidaymakers admitting they love snapping selfies while on their break, new research has discovered our favourite poses to cause holiday envy.

By far the most popular destination for a quick pictures of ourselves is the beach, with 65 per cent admitting they love nothing more than posting a sandy snap.

Scroll down for video

Pucker up: Travellers' favourite selfie to post on a holiday is a kissing shot

And while the kissing shot was the number one picture, according to the poll by James Villas, the celebrity-honed 'duck face' - a pouting picture - was voted into second place, with 21 per cent admitting they had posted one.

Nestling our feet into the sand and taking a snap is our third favourite picture (21 per cent) while a sunset selfie is our fourth most iconic shot (16 per cent).

But we're not quite brave enough to do a Kim Kardashian and post a 'belfie' show off our behinds.

Just six per cent dare to bare for a belfie, while only five per cent opt for a Heidi Klum-style 'surfboard' stomach shot of them lying down in their bikini.

The poll also found the top site for posting our holiday selfies is Facebook, with 84 per cent of holidaymakers saying they use it to upload pictures while they're abroad.

And 28 per cent admitted they even post a selfie from the airport, just to let everyone know they're heading off on their travels, while a restrained 38 per cent at least wait until the first day of their trip.

HOW TO TAKE THE PERFECT SELFIE....

Lighting should not be behind you, whether it is sunlight or another light source

Make sure you have a good background

Find your best angles and highlight your best features - angles from above work well

Take lots of pictures to select the best - you're unlikely to get it right on the first one

Persevere and practice, see which looks are best for you

Experiment with filters to see which are the most flattering

Stay up to date with current selfie trends

Have fun and be confident

Instagram and Snapchat users are even more selfie-addicted, with 45 per cent and 33 per cent respectively taking a photo at the airport.

But Twitter users appear to be more restrained, with just 14 per cent saying they post a picture from the airport.

Of course, with all this selfie-promotion, one of the most important things for modern travellers when they are away is wifi, with 27 per cent of travellers claiming it is 'extremely important' to their trip - although three-quarters said they are not prepared to pay for it.

But the travel selfie is nothing new. The Beatle’s George Harrison took a fish eye lens selfie in front of the Taj Mahal when he was 23, in 1966.

And there have long been running jokes about other people’s boring and lengthy presentations of holiday snaps.

Now Dr Apter says it is all more instant now, with selfies combining the motives of sharing, connecting and bragging.

She said: 'We sometimes make sense of holidays in the context of what it means about us to have been somewhere, and we feel different when we are away.

'We may want to share this different persona with people who think they know us; we want to share the excitement of the new situation; and we also may want to send a message that in this adventure we are leaving others behind.

'Selfies are not new but social media provides an opportunity to explore and contrast our identities in different ways. Identity play becomes a social enterprise.'